From Crisis to Renewal: Dr Rolene Wagner’s Leadership in the Turnaround of the Frere Hospital in South Africa

This case study explores how a chief executive officer (CEO)’s transformational leadership styles and emotional intelligence (EI) competence impacted the turnaround of a tertiary South African public hospital in crisis. This case examines the intricacies of public health governance in an emerging economy, by analyzing the CEO’s EI competencies and leadership behaviours using a mixed-methods approach. The findings highlight the importance of transformational leadership and EI competencies, including empathy, self-regulation, self-awareness and social awareness, in navigating change within complex systems, influencing employee well-being, workplace culture and overall organizational performance. This case provides insightful perspectives on how to develop public leadership competence and implement organizational change. In the current context, can the CEO, now the newly appointed leader of the provincial health department, utilize her personal attributes and transformational leadership styles— proven effective in driving positive change at a single hospital—to bring about transformation across an entire provincial health system that encompasses multiple underperforming hospitals?